Is there an option to placement test? That is what I would do.

Yes.
The iPad still has far superior apps. Better quality and larger quantity in general.
The other advantage of an iPad is that it will last quite a long time.  My son has an iPad 2. That model was released in early 2011. And it is still relevant. I can't say  the same from many alternative devices that have been released in the last few years. Even though there is an initial higher cost with an iPad I believe if is worth it.

I got an iPad just a little before my son turned 2. He never really used if much. If he was to use it, he was never unsupervised. And we only used it for learning apps. It was really my iPad.
Last year I got a newer iPad and my son got to keep my original one. He now 5. One thing I do is lock the screen with a simple passcode. He is unable to play the iPad unless I or my husband unlock it. I have restrictions so that he can't use any of the camera features, the internet or install and delete apps.  I believe I have amazon streaming on there. But I don't have it logged in, so he can't mindlessly watch shows.
I keep only educational apps on the iPad. No games, ever. So he has never gotten used to playing any games. Nor has he been really exposed to them. I will monitor his time using the iPad but I have not had to  really restrict it much at all. He mostly uses it for ebooks, math apps and audio books. I let him take it to bed each night so that he can read, or listen to a book before he goes to sleep. Some days he won't play the apps at all. Other days he might play for an hour.
If I see any signs of him taking the iPad for granted I will just confiscate it. He knows this.

Welcome Evelyn!

For Montessori I can't recommend this book enough. There is a digital  format and a hard copy. The digitalis is nice because it has all the links. The hard copy I like because I can sit and peruse it for ideas. I think when I bought it it was able to get both copies in a deal.

http://www.amazon.com/Help-Preschooler-Build-Better-Brain/dp/0615455530/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421093595&sr=8-3&keywords=John+bowman+Montessori

This is the website for the book.
http://www.montessoriathomebook.com/Home.html/

It seems that we think alike with the book/movie tie in!
We often play an audio book, then we read the book, or an abridged version if it is a rather difficult book. We also read picture books that tie in also. Here are a few that we have enjoyed that I think of off the top of my head.

A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Wizard of Oz
Heidi
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Pollyanna
Alice in Wonderland
Coraline
The Nutcracker
Peter Pan
Charlotte's Web
Nim's Island
Boxcar Children


We did read and watch The Junglebook, Tom Sawyer. But there weren't so well received.
There have been many more. We usually take 2-4 weeks to go through a book and movie.
I am looking forward to adding your suggestions to our list. We have read a few Roald Dahl books, but nothing that has a movie tie in I believe. We are going to start James and the Giant Peach this week.

Nate,

I also wanted to mention that my son is about the same age as your daughter. As a December '09 child he also missed the Kindergarten cut off. However our state had a waiver until the end of December. We didn't do that. We like having him at home a little longer.
We currently homeschool.

My son also learnt to read in a similar way that your daughter did. We did do some letter sounds to start. But we really did whole word language. And we just read and read and read. We were devouring about 30 books a week from the library. We used early readers but as his reading level progressed we stuck to picture books for several years. Most high quality picture books have a higher reading level than many early chapter books. So I am a huge advocate for not pushing into chapter books, due to maturity, but enjoying the picture books for as long as the child is willing. It seems you have the same thought.

This is more detail about how I taught my son to read if you are interested.
http://littlemanlogic.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/how-i-taught-my-tot-to-read/

Nathan I am not sure if you have ever heard of Living math. It is an approach to teaching math using books. Picture books at the younger ages.

The link below has a plethora of book recommendations. We really loved reading the Math Start books by Stuart Murphy when our son was little. We also love the Sir Cumference books, and the Penrose the Cat books. But those books only scratch the surface of all the wonderful living math books out there.

http://www.livingmath.net/

Not really a train table, but it is what we have. A rhino lined metal trunk. It is magnetic all the way around. And the yes, it can be used as a whiteboard.

These are the super heavy duty trunks that James may one day lug off to college. Not the flimsy ones from Walmart or the Container store that fall apart. I can stand on these and 2 adults can sit on them. Hence the prices.  I was able to get two of them heavily discounted as they were blemished. Not that I ever found the blemishes.

http://www.thetrunkstore.com/Rhino-Armor-Trunks_c_7.html

I waited for a sale and googled coupon codes. Even if I could remember the codes I used I don't think they would work now.

There is an app. But it is glitchy. I did print out a bunch of stuff from the site. But to be honest we really don't use a lot of it. It is not an easy place to navigate.
Now they do have a lot of extra stuff that makes the subscription worth it for us. I got it with hefty discounts. So I paid $60 something for a year. My son uses the Brain Pop and Brain Pop Jr apps almost daily. It is chaper to get a subscription to testing mom for the year than to subscribe via Brain Pop.
There are other amazing things on the site. Lots of access to books. But because we use the iPad primarily, we don't take advantage of all the great books. If there was an app for all the extra features we should would use them.

Thank you so much for these updates! I hung on every word.

I started with my son when he was around 2 y.o. He was reading within 6 months. He learnt the first DVD over a month. Then he learnt the second and third site words via an app within a matter of weeks. I am doing he same thing with another 2 y.o. He is almost 3 and recognizes the words but won't read the books. My son is almost 5 and has been reading chapter books for well over a year and he still likes to sit with the little one and watch the DVDs.

My son was born via emergency c-section at 38 weeks. And he is doing fine. The doctors were concerned about intellectual disability due to oxygen deprivation and slow growth. But at 4 he is doing second grade work. But has ability much above that.

I do have a question. What age group are these for. And what age group would you consider for an EL child?

Oh and as pedaling!
James never pedaled a bike until after his third birthday. He had no idea what to do. So my dad used some wooden blocks to place the training wheels on. This elevated the back wheel just enough so that he could pedal and not go anywhere. Within a few days he had it down pat.

Lots of great stuff to read!

First I wanted to say that I hate that my son loses any swimming ability every year. I wish we had the opportunity to keep swimming year round. But really we only go a few times a year. Oh well.
I also notice that regression happens in other areas. So at 4 we make sure what we cycle through things frequently. Be is general knowledge, or math. Especially math.

How is the laminate to write on and erase? How durable is it if something somewhat sharp, like the side of a train hit it with force?
We actually have a trunk that is able to be drawn on and is magnetic. It have provided us with many hours of math play. I also was able to find a $7 tray at ikea what we used for years too.
Many of the early reading books that we read back in the 2 year old days were also visually distracting. However I was able to create a fold over paper thing to cover the pictures but leave the words visible. The picture reveal at the end of reading the pages was a great bonus.
Peter Rabbit books were great at that point also. There was a challenge and the words were all on one side. Once he could read many of the Peter Rabbit books we were pretty good to tackle anything.